Recent WiNN News

All are welcome to register for our annual global networking event! This year the event will take place January 28-31, 2019 and will be hosted by WiNN India. See below for more details or visit our global networking event page (link). Please register by emailing winnindia2019@gmail.com.

​ From August 2-4, 2018, 70 women will gather in north-eastern Guyana to connect and share their knowledge of nature and how to conserve it. Sponsored by the Women in Nature Network (WiNN), World Wildlife Fund Guianas, and Conservation International Guyana, the event’s theme is “Connecting through Community Conservation.” Women from indigenous communities in the hinterland of Guyana will join with women from Guyana’s government and NGOs, and women from seven other countries including India, Suriname, French Guiana, USA, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. This is a unique women-only event, designed so to provide an encouraging environment for open discourse among the women. Participants will explore how connections made during the event can empower them to do more toward conserving the natural resources of our planet. The event features several prestigious speakers, including the Hon. Valerie Garrido Lowe, Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Guyana and Jennifer Morris, President of Conservation International. The agenda includes presentations, panel discussions, workshops and round-table discussions. Anne Savage, Conservation Director for Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, FL and Ana Isabel Olivar Alvarez from ASOARTESANAS in Colombia will lead a workshop to make eco-mochilas. Thirteen years ago, a group of 15 women began to create eco-mochilas, beautiful tote bags crocheted from recycled plastic bags as a way to generate a sustainable income while also protecting the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin (monkey) found only in Colombia. Led by Ana Isabel, ASOARTESANAS has grown to more than 50 local women that are the mainstay of the program and they have trained more than 300 women in the techniques of creating eco-mochilas from recycled plastic bags from around the world. Under Ana’s leadership these women have successfully pulled their families out of extreme poverty and decreased their dependency on forest products allowing cotton-top tamarins to thrive in the region. Most important are the social networking events to be held in the evening, where the women can make connections with other participants. New ideas, projects and opportunities are expected to come from these new connections. One evening will feature a “Conservation Fair and Marketplace” where participants can display their information about their conservation projects or research, or can sell natural products or handicrafts that they make in order to support their local conservation efforts. This evening is bound to showcase a wide variety of interesting products and projects. WiNN will be posting stories, photos and video interviews on the WiNN website(link) and WiNN Facebook page (link) during the event. We invite you to followus to hear about the exciting work of these amazing WiNN women.

-Edit as of June 22, 2018- Registration is now closed. The next global networking event will be held in 2019 in India. If you are interested in receiving more information about our WiNN India 2019 event, please subscribe to our newsletter (sign-up in the sidebar of the "Recent News" page or here). All are welcome to sign up for WiNN's global networking events, so we hope to see you there!

Dear WiNN Members and Supporters,

Just a note to let you know about some WiNN happenings
and opportunities to support the network:

WiNN Guyana 2018

Mark your calendars for the 2018 WiNN Global Networking Event in Guyana! The big event will be held around August 2-4, 2018. More details to come soon!

Are you a Protected Area Manager?

WiNN member Therese Tepe is compiling a list of women who are Protected Area Managers. If you are one, or know someone who is, please send name and email address to Therese Tepe at therese.tepe@gmail.com.

GoFundMe Campaign for Women Protecting Chimpanzees in Guinea

WiNN member Rebecca Kormos has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for a women’s literacy and girl’s education project in Guinea for villages adjacent to chimpanzee habitat. Click the photo above to visit her fundme campaignand support conservation efforts in West Africa.

PhD Opportunity

Interested in studying ecosystem-wide impacts of native & exotic ant diversity? The Lucky Lab is looking for a motivated student to develop PhD research in focus areas related to invasion ecology, phylogenetics, interspecies interactions, population genetics/genomics, or related field. See http://www.andrealucky.com/ for more information!

WiNN Mentorship Network

Thanks to those of you who responded to the mentorship survey! If you are still interested in finding a mentor and/or serving as a mentor, please email WiNN founding member Jessie Deichmann (jessiedeichmann@gmail.com) by Sunday, 2/18 to add your information to the database.

New WiNN Chapter Forms at MSU

Please join us in welcoming students from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University in the USA who have recently founded the MSU chapter of WiNN. They aim to provide resources and networking opportunities for students and young professionals in the mid-Michigan region to develop those collaborative relationships, with a specific mission of "Empowering women to succeed in natural resource careers through actionable strategies for networking, research, and professional development."

Happy Holidays from us to you! Wishing all of our wonderful women and supporters a WiNNing holiday season and new year!

Introductionto WiNN

The Women in Nature Network (WiNN) is connecting and empowering women to achieve sustainable management and conservation of our Earth’s natural resources. WiNN was founded in 2013 by 14 international conservation leaders with decades of experience in nature conservation and capacity building at the community level. Recognizing that women play a pivotal role in the field but are often isolated or ill prepared to take on leadership roles, WiNN is working to develop a global learning community of women in order to create and support a future generation of environmental leaders.

WiNN aims to connect women through four main programs:

Annual global networking event to exchange women’s experiences by bringing together international conservation leaders, WiNN members, conservation practitioners and students through symposia and workshops to strengthen their leadership skills and connect with other women.

Mentorship program to connect women with established conservation practitioners.

Strategic grants and technical support for women’s conservation projects.

We welcome women from around the world to join us!

Recent Events

WiNN Mexico 2017: Connecting for Conservation
- A huge success!

WiNN's annual global networking event was held from August 9-12, 2017 at the beautiful Camino Real Sumiya Hotel in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The event was generously supported by the Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust and the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN). The event attracted over 70 women, who heard from distinguished speakers and panelists, participated in four inspiring workshops, and networked during social events. We were honored to have Julia Carabias, former Secretary of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Fisheries in Mexico and now UNAM professor, as the event's closing speaker. Women from Mexico built new networks with WiNN members from Kenya, Vietnam, India, Argentina, Colombia, Guyana, and the US during the event. Read all about the event in the official event report here.

WiNN DC Holiday Gathering

WiNN members Leeanne Alonso, Irene Soler and Delphine Arri hosted a holiday gathering for DC area women on December 7, 2017. They were joined by friends and colleagues from DC area NGOs and the World Bank- several who are new to WiNN. We are always delighted to welcome new members to the network. Happy Holidays to all!

WiNN In the World

WiNN and the Tree Sisters Campaign

WiNN is excited to announce our new partnership with Treesisters. A UK-based charity, TreeSisters stands for reforestation, behavior change, and women’s leadership. They are committed to rapidly accelerating tropical reforestation by inspiring and channeling women’s nature-based feminine leadership into local and global action. TreeSisters invites you to join in their Journey to a Billion Trees campaign. This journey consists of a transformational series of interviews, global meditations, and invitations to ignite, empower, and catalyze readers to become a force of nature on behalf of nature. The goal is to plant One Billion Trees per year in the tropics. Join us and be inspired! For more information, please visit www.billiontrees.me, and help us to welcome this wonderful community into our network!

WiNN Connects with Women's Networks in London

Inspired and empowered by her involvement in WiNN Mexico 2017 as local coordinator, Mexican WiNN member Mireya Mendez de la Torre volunteered to represent WiNN on an Environmental Panel at “Filia 2017: Positive change for women and girls,” a "Feminism in London" event held in London UK on October 13-14, 2017.

This was Mireya’s first time in Europe so she was very excited about the opportunity. This year’s conference included a panel called “Women and the environment: a feminist perspective of the current environmental situation.” Questions discussed at the panel included: How does the natural environment affect women? Are women more affected by climate change than men? What is the role of women in biodiversity conservation? How does water scarcity threaten women around the world? How can women be empowered by the sustainable management of natural resources? Mireya says that this session explored “the relationship between gender and the environment, how the most pressing environmental issues are affecting women’s lives and, most importantly, how women are part of the solution.” Mireya was one of four panelists and gave a fantastic overview of conservation challenges and how women are a key part of the solution to an audience of over 50 women. See more about this event at feminisminlondon.org.

WiNN and GROOTS Kenya: Grants from the Global GreenGrant Fund!

GROOTS Kenya is thrilled to announce that we have secured funding for two of our women groups (IKOCHWA Women Group in Kakamega and Laikipia Women Development Initiative) from the Global GreenGrant Fund www.globalgreengrants.org.uk.

The two groups will focus on conservation efforts as below:

Laikipia Women Development initiativeLaikipia County is home to some of Kenya’s most beautiful rangelands and wildlife. The population consists of white settlers, conservationists who have leased most of the rangelands, indigenous pastoralist communities (Maasai, Samburu, etc) who live in group conservancies, and small holder farmers. For a long time now the area has witnessed resource based conflict, either human to human conflict or human-wildlife conflict. The pastoralist/farmers conflict is characterized by illegal land invasion in pursuit of pasture, the farmer/wildlife conflict is about trespassing and destruction of crops, and indigenous people (both pastoralists and farmers) and settlers have quite a tense relationship over control of the rangeland and other resources. It is a very complex situation. We are therefore hoping to use this grant to host women-led community dialogues on ways to reconcile the people, the wildlife and the sectors while nurturing local women conservation champions and peace ambassadors.

IKOCHWA group in KakamegaKakamega is home to Kakamega Forest, Kenya's only tropical rainforest. It is said to be Kenya's last remnant of the ancient Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once spanned the continent. Flora found in the park include some of Africa's greatest hard and soft woods, and its wildlife includes a variety of primates. The forest is especially famous for its birds. Many local inhabitants rely on the forest to supply important resources, such as firewood, building poles, and traditional medicines. The region is a densely populated rural area and pressure on the forest resources is considerable. There are hiking trails in the forest that allow for forest walking, camping, hiking, primate watching, bird and butterfly watching, game watching and village walks. However, women have not engaged effectively in holding the government accountable on its conservation efforts of this forest. Indeed the forest has in the recent past experienced a lot of logging that is met with silence by the "rather assuming" local communities. The grant will entail a grassroots, women-led nature trail into the forest for 3 days, conversations with Kenya Forest Service, and development of a advocacy plan around which we hope to nurture grassroots conservation champions.

WiNN Mexico Network Established

One of WiNN’s key objectives is to create networks of women conservationists and natural resource managers around the world, particularly following WiNN global networking events. WiNN Mexico 2017 participants have committed to establishing a Mexico WiNN Network. They have created a Facebook page to stay connected through time and to have conversations with women within the Mexico and global WiNN network. They also agreed to hold informal meetings whenever WiNN members are in the same location. In addition, formal meetings will take place as side meetings within the framework of larger scientific meetings where WiNN members will attend. Connect with WiNN Mexico on the WiNN website here.

WiNN at the Latin American Society of Ethnobiology

Bibiana Vila

One of our members, Bibiana Vila, in October went to Ecuador for the Congress of Ethnobiology during which the authorities of the Latin American Society of Ethnobiology (SOLAE) were renewed. In the new board that begins, Bibiana will be in charge of the gender issues of the society.

She has already made three decisions that have been accepted and will be implemented in the society:

In all the congresses of ethnobiology of the SOLAE, at least half of the lectures will have female lecturers.

The term “man” will be avoided when referring to human beings in all texts of SOLAE.

At the next meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2019 there will be a round table or workshop entitled “Ethnobiology and Women’s Bodies, as researchers and as researched subjects.”

United Nations Gender Action Plan

Great news! The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has approved a Gender Action Plan. See the full resolution here!
Let’s think about how WiNN can engage with this initiative.

WiNN Women in the News

Publication of Second BAT Report in Guyana

WiNN members working in Guyana (Leeanne Alonso, Juliana Persaud and Aiesha Williams) are proud to announce the publication of field survey results from their second Biodiversity Assessment Team (BAT) expedition to the Potaro Plateau and Kaiteur National Park. The report was launched in Georgetown, Guyana on November 16, 2017. Read the report here.

Jessie’s research on acoustic monitoring was also featured in our May 2017 newsletter.

Congratulations to Purnima Barman!

In the last newsletter we wrote about Purnima, known as the “Stork Sister,” being awarded the “Green Guru” Award by the Balipara Foundation, recognized by the FICCI Ladies Organization, and awarded the Whitley Award for 2017. Well, our Stork Sister continues to be amazing and produce great conservation work, and she has also recently been nominated for the 2018 Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation! She has been nominated for her efforts to conserve the Greater Adjutant Stork in India. Purnima has worked tirelessly to create a campaign to ensure their survival and bring pride to villages that are home to these unique birds. We are so proud of her and wish her the best of luck with becoming a finalist, and hopefully the winner, of the Indianapolis Prize!

Organization Updates

WiNN finally has our own website. Many thanks to Harvard College’s WiNN Chapter for developing a website for WiNN, especially to Jaelithe Virgin-Downey!
Visit us at http://www.womeninnaturenetwork.org

Contributions from WiNN members are welcome. We especially would like to feature 1) bios of WiNN members (1 paragraph and a photo) and 2) WiNN members’ personal stories- how did you get where you are today, what interested you in conservation, and where would you like to go from here! Please send your stories and bios to womeninnaturenetwork@gmail.com.

WiNN Chapter at Harvard

Congratulations to the Harvard University chapter of WiNN for gaining status as a Recognized Student Organization! Student interest has catalyzed the success of this chapter and we look forward to the continuation of their work connecting and empowering students who are passionate about women's issues and environmental conservation. WiNN @ Harvard has also been communicating with students at several other universities about starting WiNN chapters at their schools.

Opportunities

Sign up for the WiNN Mentorship Program
Would you like to be a mentor to an emerging conservation leader? Would you like to connect with an experienced woman who can provide advice and guidance on natural resource management or conservation? If so, WiNN invites you to join the WiNN Mentorship Program by adding your name at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VYYHTB8. From this survey, a database for mentors and mentees will be developed so that women can find other women to connect with, build relationships, and receive guidance. The mentorship database will be sent to all program participants and made available through the WiNN Facebook page starting February 2018. All are welcome. Sign up today!

Two postdoctoral opportunities are also available at the Smithsonian Institution's new Science Lab. One is focused on applying machine learning tools to collections data, and the other focuses on biodiversity genomics.
Find out more at http://bit.ly/2nj897Q.

Upcoming Events

2018 and 2019 WiNN Annual Events

Get prepared for the next inspiring WiNN Annual Global Networking Events to be held in Guyana in 2018 and India in 2019! These two events will include an exchange between women from India and Guyana, two regions where WiNN members are working closely with community based women. WiNN members from Guyana and India look forward eagerly to facilitating an exchange of ideas and approaches between their two countries and with women from around the world. More details and dates are coming soon!

On Febuary 24th, 2018 HCCS will be holding their 3rd annual Careers in Conservation Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is a conference for all interested students from Boston-based universities who are interested in professionally pursuing, as the title suggests, careers in conservation. It was created out of partnership with WiNN in 2016, and any WiNN women interested in connecting with young conservationists are welcome to join for a networking lunch, or simply to sit in for the speakers and workshops. To learn more, see Harvard College Conservation Society's website: http://www.harvardconservation.org/. We thank the Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust for their continued faith in WiNN and their support for these exciting upcoming events!

Meet Some of Our Women

Juliana Persaud

Juliana has a Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford, UK. She started her career in biodiversity conservation at the Environmental Protection Agency in Guyana in 2008 and has over 8 years of experience working with indigenous communities, CBO’s and policy makers supporting the development of conservation-compatible rural livelihoods, natural resource management and expansion of the protected areas network in Guyana. She joined WWF-Guianas (Guyana Office) in 2015 as the Biodiversity Officer where she currently works contributing to the advancement of WWF’s goals under their forest, freshwater and governance programmes.

Indranee Roopsind

Indranee Roopsind is a Guyanese field biologist with over 15 years of experience working in forest systems and biodiversity of Guyana, with much of her efforts devoted to the villages and environs within the North Rupununi Wetlands.
Currently, Indranee is a Community Engagement Specialist with World Wildlife Fund in Guyana. She is part of a team that is engaged with indigenous villages within the North Rupununi, in the development of 10 year village development plans. These plans for the villages are being developed in the areas of environment, health, education, livelihood, governance and tradition and culture.
At present, Indranee is undertaking research for a MSc in Forest Biology at the University of Guyana. Her research is focused on assessing the impacts of changing resource use and techniques on the habitat use and population of the Giant Otter Pternonura brasiliensis in the North Rupununi Wetlands, in Guyana. Her first love is the Giant River Otter, and that is the driving force behind her having made the North Rupununi her home, where she hopes to set an example of there being no limits to what women can achieve for her 8 year old daughter Rachel.

Lisa Famolare

As Vice President for Amazonia at Conservation International, Lisa works with seven CI country programs across the region in their efforts to conserve nature, mitigate climate change, support sustainable livelihoods and green development, and secure long term financing. Lisa also works across the Americas to link global development agency financing with country (field) program and governments. Over Lisa's quarter century of efforts to conserve the biodiversity of the Guiana Shield, she's led the design and implementation of programs to establish and manage protected areas, build capacity in governments and civil society, empower communities, access conservation finance and develop long-term financing mechanisms, climate mitigation and REDD+ initiatives, and sustainable enterprise. She graduated from University of Vermont.

The Women in Nature Network (WiNN) is connecting and empowering women to achieve sustainable management and conservation of our Earth’s natural resources. WiNN was founded in 2013 by 14 international conservation leaders with decades of experience in nature conservation and capacity building at the community level. Recognizing that women play a pivotal role in the field but are often isolated or ill prepared to take on leadership roles, WiNN is working to develop a global learning community of women in order to create and support a future generation of environmental leaders.

WiNN aims to connect women through four main programs:

Annual global networking event to exchange women’s experiences by bringing together international conservation leaders, WiNN members, conservation practitioners and students through symposia and workshops to strengthen their leadership skills and connect with other women.

On January 24th, 2017, the World Bank hosted an event organized by WiNN member, Dr. Claudia Sobrevila, featuring three women from around the world who are using networks to empower women and give them a more active role in improving society. The speakers were Yanire Brana, founder of MET Community, which is dedicated to supporting women in business, Jean Reddeman, a Native American counselor and speaker who works with women networks helping them to reconnect with nature for health reasons, and Dr. Leeanne Alonso, founder of our very own Women in Nature Network.

The talk was centered around increasing the participation of women in these projects, and using networks to bring women together. In the talk, Leeanne described networks for women as having two functions: connecting women to each other, and providing them opportunities that they may not otherwise have. She stressed the isolation that some women feel when they aren’t offered a voice, or when they simply don’t know many others like them who want to participate in improving society. These women are not alone, and networks bring them together, helping them to become leaders ready to serve their cause. However, all speakers acknowledged that truly being part of a network means taking initiative and reaching out to others, staying committed to the cause and the women supporting it, and remembering your values. We hold these three points to be imperative in WiNN's own functioning, and we are all very proud of Leeanne for representing WiNN at the World Bank conference and speaking on behalf of women leadersaround the world.

"Stork Sister" recognized for her hard workPurnima Devi Barman, "Stork Sister" was recently awarded the "Green Guru" Award by the Balipara Foundation (below) and was one of four women recognized by the FICCI Ladies Organization.

She was also just recently awarded the Whitley Award for 2017! The Whitley Awards are made annually by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) to recognize and celebrate conservation leaders across the globe. See Purnima's acceptance speech here.

Congratulations, Purnima!

Known as the “Stork Sister” among her colleagues, Purnima Devi Barman is a champion for the conservation of the Greater Adjutant Stork. Her work in the three villages of the Kamrup district (Dadara, Pachariya, and Singimari) in India has invoked a love for the animal and has brought the community closer together. Purina has raised awareness of the dangers of deforestation, which destroys the breeding grounds for the stork, and now she and the members of the community work to rehabilitate and release storks in need and protect the stork’s habitat. Once considered untouchable, the Greater Adjutant Stork is now happily a part of the community’s society. Purnima’s work demonstrates WiNN’s values of community building and empowerment. We are so proud of her for both her hard work and the recognition that her efforts have received!

Additionally, WiNN recently received a generous grant from the ERM Foundation to support Purnima's work with local women to develop handicrafts with the stork motif that will provide an alternative income to the localcommunity.

WiNN Happy Hour in Washington, DC

On May 20, 2017, WiNN member Irene Soler hosted a fun gathering of conservation-minded women in the DC area to get to know each other and share stories. Conversations were exciting since the women brought experiences from many different sectors including conservation NGOs, development agencies, research institutions, and the private sector.

WiNN Member's Story Published

Argentina WiNN member, Paula Tezanos, has published her personal story in the high profile journal, Science! Paula tell us that inspiration for this piece came from the WiNN annual networking event in Buenos Aires last year, particularly when one of the participants talked about a conference she had attended where each speaker told their personal story after their scientific talk. This is what WiNN is all about- inspiring and sharing! Read Paula's story here.

WiNN Mentees at Harvard

WiNN mentees of the Harvard College Conservation Society (HCCS) held their second annual Careers in Conservation Conference, which grew from a collaboration with WiNN, in March. The event included exciting keynote speakers, pre-professional workshops, and an interdisciplinary panel, and was a great success! They have also begun the process of creating an official Women in Nature Network student organization on campus and at other nearby universities, and they look forward to empowering a completely new group of students, even outside of HCCS, to pursue environmental conservation through the WiNN network. To learn more about their work in HCCS, click here.

Women in the Field

Biology and Sound

Congratulations to Jesse Deichmann and Amanda Delgado (below) for publishing their paper: "Soundscape analysis and acoustic monitoring document impacts of natural gas exploration on biodiversity in a tropical forests."

Despite increasing natural resource extraction in tropical forests, specifically the Amazon area, little progress has been made in understanding the effect of such processes on nearby wildlife. Recently, however, Jessie Deichmann and Andrés Hernández-Serna published a paper measuring these effects by recording the soundscape in different forest areas nearby a Peruvian extraction site. Putting together more than 1600 recordings and analyzing them, they found that biological sound diversity decreases in recording locations up to 250 meters away from the extraction site, and that most biological sound occurs in the night between 6pm and 6am. From these findings, they recommend that resource extraction be located in areas where the noise can be reduced or absorbed by nearby geology, and that most extraction occur in the daytime. Deichmann and Hernández-Serna's results show not only the impact of natural resource extraction on nearby wildlife, but also the effectiveness of their method of acoustic monitoring.

Vegetation in the Puna Pastoral SystemsVeronica Rojo (below left) recently presented her doctoral thesis, “Analysis of the dynamics of the vegetation of the Puna jujeña in relation to domestic and wild ungulates and their impact on desertification” at the University of La Plata, Argentina.

Veronica Rojo, along with six other women, qualitatively identified different kinds of vegetation and measured plant biomass in the Puna pastoral systems. Using a carrying capacity model ecologically specific to the Puna pastoral systems, they found that the most productive vegetation units had a higher presence of animal stock and wild herbivores. Their results also showed a relationship between vegetation biomass with precipitation and geomorphology. They believe that this relationship is due to land degradation caused by a severe lack of water, which has also had negative impacts on the animal stock.

This research contributed to the knowledge of the Puna pastoral systems which is rarely studied from a plant-herbivore interaction perspective, and showed us how vegetation in the region is influenced by both precipitation and animal stock. Knowing what causes land degradation as well as its effect on vegetation, this is a great base for future research on how to prevent land degradation in the future.

Biodiversity in Guyana

WiNN founding member, Leeanne Alonso (above left), and Guyana WiNN members Juliana Persaud (above center) and Aiesha Williams (above left) published "BAT Assessment Survey of the South Rupununi Savannah, Guyana,” which presents the results of the 2014 WWF/GWC biodiversity survey. The publication was launched in Georgetown Guyana in April and presented to the indigenous Wapishana communities in Rupununi Savannah in May. You can read the full report as well as a biodiversity booklet here.

Dr. Bibiana Vilá recognized for her workWiNN member Dr. Bibiana Vilá, Professor at the Universidad de Lujan and a principal investigator at CONICET in Argentina, was recognized and awarded by the local community of Lucanas (Ayacucho, Peru) for her extensive work with the vicuñas, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Pampa Galeras National Reserve. Click here for photos and details. Congratulations Bibi!

Meet Some of Our Women

Ana Laura Barillas Gómez

Ana’s responsibilities include raising funds for the Mexican System of Protected Areas (PA), fostering sustainable coastal development and fisheries management in the Gulf of California and Northwestern Mexico, identifying potential projects, enhancing collaboration between civil society organizations and government agencies, supporting grantees’ capacity building needs and leading the PA learning community. Ana joined the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN) in 2007 as technical assistant, in 2011 she became coordinator and in 2014 Director of the Protected Areas Conservation Program. Since March 2016, she is also responsible of the Coastal and Marine Program. Before this, Ana collaborated with different conservation projects as research assistant in many Mexican PA. Ana has a Master in Science from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and she obtained her B.S. degree from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla with a major in Biology (with honors) and a full scholarship.

Renée González Montagut

Renée obtained her B.S. degree in 1990 from Occidental College with a major in Biology (Cum laude) and a full scholarship. After conducting research in Panama, Costa Rica and Venezuela, she focused on rainforest regeneration in cattle pastures in Mexico for her doctoral dissertation. She was awarded the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant and obtained her Ph.D. in 1996 from Harvard University. In 1997 she started working for the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN) as the Director of the Fund for Protected Areas (FANP). In 1998 the FANP started channeling the income generated by a US$16.5 million endowment from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to ten natural protected areas in Mexico. By 2017 the FANP has grown to US$80 million with a second contribution from GEF, as well as donations from 14 additional donors. A total of 30 federal protected areas receive support from the FANP. In January 2004 Renée became the Conservation Director of the FMCN. Renée is presently responsible for the operation of the Protected Areas, Forest, Watersheds and the Marine and Coastal Conservation Programs, as well as inter-program initiatives. Under her leadership, in 2013 the FMCN signed a US$39.518 million grant from the GEF for the conservation of coastal watersheds in Mexico, which is the largest GEF grant to Mexico. She is part of the Governing Board of the Institute of Ecology, is a Founding Member of the Women in Nature Network, represented the conservation organizations at the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development in Veracruz, and she is a member of the Veracruz Environmental Fund Committee and the Man and Biosphere Program Committee in Mexico from UNESCO. She led the creation of two regional private environmental funds and helped in the design of two public state funds. Renée is fluent in four languages.

Raquel Zepeda

Raquel has a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Literature and is currently a master student in narrative practices for community work. She has 20 years of experience in civil associations of environmental development and education. She is the founder of the civil association Inana that develops community education projects. Raquel has worked in project evaluations and gender incorporation. She was director of an institute for gender equity and adviser of the gender equity board in the LV legislature of the State of Queretaro, Mexico. Raquel has worked with native bees for the last 10 years and is a member of the bees and education network. She is currently developing teaching materials for rural communities: an educational pouch for native bees in Mexico. Raquel has founded the Inana school of meliponiculture.

Plans are in full swing for WiNN’s annual event, this year to be held at the Camino Real Sumiya hotel in Morelos, Mexico. We are excited about meeting up with over 50 women to share experiences and stories, hear from prominent Mexican and international speakers, join panel discussions of issues particular to women working in conservation, and learn new skills from workshops. We are honored to have Dr. Julia Carabias Lillo, former Minister of the Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries of Mexico and former President of Mexico's National Ecology Institute, as our keynote speaker! Dr. Carabias is currently a Faculty Researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The event is generously supported by the Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust and the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (FMCN).Learn more and register at https://fmcn.org/winn-event-2017/

Conference:Feminism in London, October 14-15, 2017

WiNN will participate in an environmental panel at the Feminism in London (FiLiA) conference. Check out the conference at https://filia.org.uk.